Starting to Sew: Best Practices

The best way to get better at sewing is sewing! Cut a little square of fabric and put your foot on the pedal. Learn how the fabric flows in, notice what your hands naturally want to do, and then start to play around with how you can get better results by making changes to your practice.

However, I have prepared this whole video with little details that will help that sewing go smoothly. Those details are:

00:00 Introduction
00:19 Takeup lever position
01:03 Holding thread tails
01:32 Backstitching
02:47 Stitch length
03:50 How to sew straight
05:11 Hand positioning
06:14 Eyeballs
07:12 Flat surfaces
07:36 Conclusion

Within each of these, there’s more I can expand upon, and there’s certainly more minute tips that will come later. But for now, hold those thread tails and step on your pedal.

My main takeaways:
1. The takeup lever position is hugely important for machine operation in general. I know it’s hidden away in the plastic case, but you’ll quickly get in the habit of peeking through to see where it’s at! Small handwheel adjustments can save you big headaches.
2. Hold your thread tails for a smooth start. If you’re planning on backstitching, then hold them for about 3 stitches, then let go and pop up to the reverse lever (or button). If you’re not planning on backstitching (like if you have a seam that’s going to intersect another seam, which means the next intersecting stitch line will hold your threads in place), then you can still let go after those 3 stitches.
3. Stitch length depends on your project! Do a little test swatch when you have chosen your fabric, needle, and thread to see how the tension looks. If the stitches are laying nicely, and their density is appropriate to the heaviness of the fabric, you’re good to go.
4. All the rest will come naturally. As you cut and sew fabric, your hands will learn how the fabric wants to behave. Without even realizing it, you’ll internalize all the cues you need for clean sewing! With intentional practice, your sewing will shape up into some beautiful stitches, inside and out.

Again, part of the reason I’ve made this video series so long is that I want to give you as much information as I can. If you don’t feel like sitting through all of this, and you’d rather just develop an embodied understanding by powering on your machine, get to it! Listening to someone else talk about sewing won’t do nearly as much as doing the work yourself. I wish you the best as you get that work done (:

My Patreon link: https://patreon.com/toofbush?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink